March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Michigan won its bid to continue
enforcing a ban on gay marriages while it appeals a federal
judge’s ruling that the prohibition is unconstitutional.

A U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati yesterday voted
2-1 to put on hold last week’s decision by U.S. District Judge
Bernard A. Friedman in Detroit, which made Michigan the 21st
state where same-sex unions were deemed legal. The majority
cited a U.S. Supreme Court order in January that froze a court
ruling invalidating Utah’s same-sex marriage ban during an
appeal.

“In light of the Supreme Court’s issuance of a stay in a
similar case,” the appellate judges said, “a stay of the
district court’s order is warranted.”

Rulings that struck down comparable laws in Virginia and
Oklahoma are also delayed pending appeal. The U.S. Court of
Appeals in Denver is scheduled to hear argument on the Utah and
Oklahoma cases on April 10. A federal appeals panel in Virginia
will consider the ruling upending that state’s ban.

One or more of those cases may ultimately be reviewed by
the Supreme Court.

Friedman, in his March 21 decision, said Michigan’s voter-enacted 2004 constitutional prohibition violated federal
constitutional guarantees of equal protection. His ruling
followed a two-week non-jury trial in a case brought by two
nurses, Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer.

State Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican who has
argued that the ban reflected the will of the citizenry, filed a
notice the same day that he would appeal the decision and also
requested the delay in enforcing it.

The case is DeBoer v. Snyder, 14-1341, U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Cincinnati).